Yuffie After The Death
by MissGoose
Summary: Yuffie has been left with the charge of Wutai due to her father's passing. But Yuffie wasn't meant to lead and Reeve has other plans for her. (Edits done to fix mistakes but some spelling errors I still missed! Grrr! But many thanks to CupofTeaforAlicaandHatter!)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:****I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. This is only a fan story written by an adoring fan of the Vincent &amp; Yuffie paring!**

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Yuffie stood quietly at the front of the room next to the open casket. The many words people said as they pulled her into their arms were lost almost instantly. She could not find the heart to listen to their pitying thoughts. That was all people ever expressed at any person's death. _I am so sorry for your loss. If you need anything let me know._ But how many of those offers were true and from the heart?

Before she could make sense of what was going on she was sitting in the passenger seat of Barret's big, family truck. She wasn't truly sure when she would get her world back together. All she knew was she needed to let go of everything and it would be okay.

"Barret, thank you for dropping me off," she said as they pulled to her small home only a short drive from her father's large mansion. She couldn't stand living in the house when he was alive. There was no way she could take on being there during his death.

"Of course," Barret said. He scratched his chin in an awkward manor and avoided eye contact as he spoke. "If you need anything, Yuffie, you know you can call anyone of us. We don't know much about what you're planning on doing from here on, but we've got your back."

Yuffie gave him a small smile and bobbed her head to show she understood. He watched her walk inside her home and shut the door. As he drove from her home there was no way for him to see the young woman collapsing into pieces behind the closed door. She remained crying on the floor in front of the door until she fell asleep. Her night ticked by in a rush of chaotic dreams and hellish truth. She could not lead Wutai without her father and it was time for the Kisaragi family to step aside.

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The chances of Yuffie getting away so easily were far from her dreams. She sat at the head of the meeting table and held her mouth closed as tight as possible. All she needed to do was smile and listen to the different _contestants_ as they played off their ideas and dreams for Wutai. No matter how against the idea she was in the beginning; Yuffie agreed to stand in the lead role in honor of her father until they found a proper being to lead Wutai. The only problem were the idiots they kept bringing in!

"What do you think this country needs?" Yuffie asked the same question to the gentleman standing before her. She lost count to the number of men she saw.

"I think this country needs to clean itself up. As I'm sure you know," he said looking her directly in the eyes. Not many of the men were able to look at her in such a straight forward manor. "after the battles this world has seen it has not been easy to step outside of one's home to go to the store. Let alone go visit another country. I don't believe we ever intended to become a place for vacation, but that was what we became. I strongly believe the best way to get this country growing and becoming a part of the world again is to clean our place up and spread world of our happy area. We could get visitors and may even pull some to stay and make Wutai their homes. It won't be easy and I can't say it will all be accomplished in less than a year's time, but it is a step we need to make."

Yuffie fought the urge to drop her mouth. Every word out of the man's mouth before her was golden and the complete truth. He said each word as if he believed he held the power to make it happen. Yuffie believed he held the power to do it.

"My people, I think we have found our country's new leader," she said and sat back with a relived smile. She opened a soft, black box holding a golden metal on a blue ribbon. She turned the open box to show the man before her and pushed the box into his reach. "May I present Reggie Vixon as the new lead in Wutai. I wish you the best with all your goals for our great country!"

The meeting was finished and Yuffie was permitted to be excused from the welcoming ceremony. She packed a small bag and jumped into the tiny, red car she managed to drive. Yuffie couldn't get out of the country fast enough. She pushed her speed to new levels as she headed to the one home she never thought she would dare to try and find.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:****I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. This is only a fan story written by an adoring fan of the Vincent &amp; Yuffie paring!**

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Yuffie sat in the motel's diner and looked on the map she carried on her being at all times. A blue star was placed on a spot marking the location of 7th Heaven and other symbols were scattered around marking other areas of importance. There were several red circles scattered around on the map. Those circles were only guesses to where her next destination would be.

She slouched in her seat and bit her bottom lip. It would be simple enough to call him and ask for his address, but knowing the brooding man he would tell her not to worry about him. As much as she tried to forget him it was impossible to do. Attempting to forget someone was the best way to always remember them.

"Godo, give me a sign," she said with a laugh. Like her father would help her hunt down some dark, old friend. Her phone rang and he gave the map before her a confused look. What were the chances of that happening? "Hello?"

"Good morning, Yuffie," Reeve's voice answered her greeting.

"Reeve? What's up?" she asked losing all focus on her search. It wasn't every day Reeve called her for idle chit chat.

"An announcement just aired about Reggie Vixon taking on the leadership of Wutai. Vincent and I just heard on the radio and I wanted to be the first to contact you," he said.

"Vincent is with you?" Yuffie asked completely shocked. She never would have thought to go to any place near Reeve. She thought for sure Vincent was done with all the battling and war.

Reeve chuckled and continued. "Yeah, he's actually in my office right now. We were talking about our latest mission when we heard your name mentioned on the radio."

"Oh boy," Yuffie groaned. She hoped nothing too dramatic was done about her leaving.

"It was a cute, little farewell," Reeve said assuring it wasn't a big deal. "But it did make me wonder one thing. What is the little ninja going to do now? I asked Vincent if he heard from you and he hadn't heard a thing. I wanted to give you a call and make a request."

The only way Reeve could have gotten a hold of her cell phone was getting the number from Tifa. She was going to have to sit down with the woman and have a serious discussion about privacy.

"What's your request?" Yuffie asked. She wasn't happy about him getting a hold of her cell number, but she wasn't too happy about sitting around bored all day.

"Come over to my shop and help Vincent out with his latest mission," Reeve answered.

Yuffie laughed and rolled her eyes. "Did you talk to Vince about this? I don't think he would be too thrilled to have me tagging along with him."

"I told you he was sitting here with me, didn't I?" he asked a smile obviously worn on his face.

Yuffie knew what he said was true, but it was still hard to believe. What in the world could Vincent Valentine be doing to require her help rather than the help of one of their other friends? She knew she wasn't anything other than a thorn in his side half the time. In fact, most days she found most of her happiness in the group was pestering the gloomy, old man. He always looked so cute when she was able to freeze up his words. Not that he said much either way.

"Yuffie?" Reeve's voice called out in wonder.

"Oh, fine," Yuffie said and took out a pen to write on her hand. "Give me your address and I'll be there in a little while." She scribbled down the address as the ended their call.

"is she really going to help out?" Vincent asked as Reeve slid Vincent's phone back to it's owner. He couldn't believe the man still had her cell number.

"As of right now she is," Reeve said and gave his clever smile. "She doesn't know what the mission is yet."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer:****I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. This is only a fan story written by an adoring fan of the Vincent &amp; Yuffie paring!**

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Vincent leaned against the brick building as he waited for Yuffie to get to Reeve's work place. He saw a tiny car pull into the parking lot and struggled to hide his shock when Yuffie stood out from the driver's side. She locked the door and stepped into full view. Her legs were oddly covered in a pair of form fitting sweat pants and a tight tank top. She wore tennis shoes and appeared nothing like the young girl he once knew. At least, not until she saw him and jumped with excitement. She took on a run and he prepared for her attack.

"Vinnie!" she shouted as she jumped on him with a hug. "It's been forever!"

"How have you been?" he asked with half a smile.

She let go of his side and shrugged. "I have had many better days, but then again I've had some worse ones as well. How about you?"

"Nothing big is going on here," Vincent said and lead her into the building. "I live a couple houses down and work on small projects for Reeve time to time."

"Odd," she said looking around the hallway as they headed to Reeve's private office. "I thought for sure you'd be anywhere but hanging out with him."

Vincent didn't really have a response to please her. He worked with the man only because there was nothing better for him to do with all his free time. All he was wanted for was to fight away the bad guys. There weren't many other purposes for him to be around. He excepted his fate and it made life that much easier.

"Hey there!" Yuffie said as Reeve turned to face the jumping girl.

"How are you doing, Yuffie?" he asked with a tiny smile on his face.

"Just as I told mister Valentine, I'm fine," she said and rolled her eyes. "What calls for you to call me?"

Vincent sat on a wooden chair and Yuffie took the empty seat next to him. He wasn't even sure what the mission before them was. Reeve wouldn't tell him a single thing until Yuffie agree to help and get to the office. Nothing was told to either of them until that very moment.

"Yuffie, I want you to go with Vincent on a vacation," Reeve said and held out two tickets for them.

"What?" Yuffie and Vincent said at the same time.

"Vincent, you have been working hard ever since your help with taking down Sephiroth. There hasn't been a single day when you haven't been doing some work around here, helping out Cloud or doing other little projects to keep you busy," Reeve said and turned to see Yuffie's face in shock. "And you have been working just as hard. You opened up your freedom when you stepped away from your leading role in Wutai and I think this makes the most sense for you both. Everyone else from the Avalanche group went back to their lives once the battle against Deepground finished and I haven't heard or seen a complaint from any of them since. I think you two sort of got left behind."

"Gee, thanks," Yuffie said and slouched in her seat.

"What I mean is you two went back to what you knew from before the group and I don't think it's enough," Reeve said. "You two got dragged into the problem against Deepground and took it on without much complaint as far as I know. That's fine and dandy but you need to get away. You guys need to figure out what you want to happen next in your lives. I think a vacation together could seal the deal."

Vincent looked to Yuffie as she laughed. "Vinnie would hate vacation time with me."

"Yuffie, your father just passed away and you need to step out of the world for a moment," Reeve said and looked to Vincent. "I'm not saying you two need to spend the entire vacation together. Just get there and do whatever you feel is needed. Laugh, party, get drunk, cry or even scream at one another. It's exhausting being caught in the hell you two built for yourselves. Ask anyone."

"Anyone?" Yuffie looked to Vincent with worry. "Are you exhausted, Vinnie?"

"I don't think he meant us, Yuffie," he said and looked to Reeve. "They're all worried about us?"

"Yes," Reeve sighed. "Take a trip and relax. I have no idea why, but Tifa insisted on sending you two somewhere together."

Vincent rolled his eyes and reached forward to take the tickets out of Reeve's hand. He looked at the destination on the tickets. It told him they were headed to the Gold Saucer. It wasn't his idea of a good time, but he imagined Yuffie would enjoy herself. Vincent could use her happiness to make the time worth while. She probably needed the vacation more than he did. He gave a wave of thanks and walked out of the room. Yuffie's voice called after him and her feet scurried in his footsteps.

"Where is he sending us?" Yuffie asked stretching around to peek at the tickets.

"The Gold Saucer," Vincent said. "You'll enjoy it."

"I know I will, but I don't think you found the place all too exciting when we went there before," Yuffie said and twisted her fingers on the bottom of her shirt. "I don't want you to be bored on vacation."

Vincent shook his head as they headed towards Yuffie's car. If she could handle driving her own car he wouldn't think of taking anything else. There was no need to start out their vacation with her upset.

"I'm sure I can find a way to enjoy myself," he promised and walked to the passenger side of her car. It was only a weekend trip and he could put up with pointless games for a couple days.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer:****I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. This is only a fan story written by an adoring fan of the Vincent &amp; Yuffie paring!**

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Yuffie parked her car and they grabbed their bags to head to their hotel next to the amusement park. They were gifted a two person hotel room and it was set with a friendly setting. It was a cute room and would be a great place to stay if Vincent didn't want to venture out to the game section of the park. Yuffie took claim to the bed by the large window and looked out to the lights dancing in the park.

"We can head over today if you want to catch a couple rides," Vincent said trying not to hide from the idea of seeing all the people.

"I don't think I want to go out tonight," she said as if she could read his hesitation. "Let's just get some dinner and call it a night. The drive here was tiring. I think it's crazy how some of those idiots were driving."

"Says the girl never able to drive until this year?" Vincent asked and headed to the door.

Yuffie stuck her tongue out to his back. She got to her feet and followed him out of their hotel room. The first floor held a few popular restaurants and some tiny game rooms for anyone not wanting to go out and see the big park. Vincent walked into a quiet steak diner and Yuffie followed with no complaint. Their orders were quickly placed and they were left alone with little noise to distract them from talking. The radio in Yuffie's car provided enough noise the silence was doable. Being alone as they were could only last so long.

"Vinnie," Yuffie started pulling Vincent's full attention. "Have you really only been fighting since the Deepground battles?"

Vincent shrugged and remained silent. She knew this would be how most of their events would go over the weekend.

"I'm just surprised you didn't try to get away from it all," she said and began fiddling with her wrapped silverware. She remained silent until their waiter was finished delivering their drinks. "Some of the things we saw were pretty horrendous and I can't even begin to imagine what you went through. Why not step away? The world has gotten a better hold of things."

Vincent looked at her silently for a long enough time she was convinced he wouldn't answer her questions. It wasn't a surprise, but she really wanted to talk to him about everything that happen in their lives. That was the only reason she was in search of him when she was free from Wutai.

"I don't have much else to do," he answered looking her in the eye. "I wanted to just work and keep my mind busy so I couldn't think about things."

Yuffie bobbed her head and looked at the steak and veggie mix on the plate placed before her. She took a bite of the delicious meal before she spoke the words ever present on her mind. "Are you feeling better about your past?"

Vincent closed his eyes as he took in the taste of his steak and Yuffie's question sunk into his mind. He knew everyone wondered about him and no one cared to ask. He was alright with keeping his thoughts to himself and knew the questions might never come. But he never expected Yuffie to be the one to find the courage to ask.

"I have forgiven myself for the most part. I still feel a little amount of guilt for not being able to save her, but how much could I have actually done?" he asked and sipped his wine before finishing his own thoughts. "She already made her choice and there was nothing anyone would ever say or do to change her mind. I have let her beauty go in a way but I have no forgotten the lesson."

"What lesson is that?" Yuffie asked. She only knew Vincent's story with Lucrecia through the little bits. It wasn't her place to know everything no matter how curious she was.

"I learned I can't control everything and sometimes things happen unjustly for no reason at all," he said and took in a deep breath. "And sometimes the things that happen are what we really need to happen."

Yuffie looked at her plate of food and pushed some of the meal around with her fork. "I can understand that now. When my father passed away I couldn't really think straight or connect complete reasoning to it all right away. But there was no reasoning other than it was his time. The role was placed into my hands and I did all I could do to make it right. I needed to hand it all over."

"A little different than my own story," Vincent said picking up their bill to pay. "But in a way I think you get it. Never thought those words would leave my mouth."

Yuffie smirked as he handed their bill to the waiter to end their dinner.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer:****I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters. This is only a fan story written by an adoring fan of the Vincent &amp; Yuffie paring!**

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Yuffie crawled into her bed as Vincent showered in the next room. She watched the lights dance out the window as rides moved around and games were being played. It felt as if it were only a short time ago when she would love to run around and play in the amusement park without a care in the world. Now she wanted to just spend their entire weekend sleeping at the hotel.

Vincent stepped out of the restroom with flannel pants and a comfy t-shirt for his pajamas. He raised an eyebrow to Yuffie watching him.

"Remember when we first met?" she asked with a smirk. "I was convinced you were going to eat us all."

Vincent smirked and sat on the edge of his bed and watched her twist so she was sitting as well. "Ever since then you have never stopped teasing me."

"I've gotten a little better about it, vampire dude," she said and stuck out her tongue. "It could have been worse."

"How so?" he asked with a smile.

"I could have stabbed you in the chest," she said with smirk and gave a puzzled look. "Although, past experiences have told me that wouldn't have done much. What has happened to your buddies since then? I haven't seen you show a single sign of losing control to them."

Vincent gave a smile in the form of pride. "Chaos is gone for good and is with the planet now. The other demons in my being are content to just live in quiet peace. They talk to me every so often, but I think they have mostly taken on a form of sleep inside my body."

"That's a little creepy," Yuffie said with a nervous face. "I won't lie to you, Vinnie."

"And I won't hurt you, Yuffie," he said and leaned back on his hands. He felt much more comfortable than he ever was before. A smile appeared on his face as Yuffie nervously fiddled with her night shorts. "What else is on your mind?"

Yuffie shook her head and scooted back to the center of her bed. She crawled under the blanket and hid her face from his eyes. Yuffie Kisaragi was being shy and Vincent would not allow his head to try and figure her out. He laid his body down in his own bed and kept his eyes where Yuffie was hidden away.

"Can I ask you something?" her voice called from under the blanket.

"My hearing isn't as good as it once was," he said with a smart smile. He could hear her without a problem, but he was enjoying the way she squirmed in an odd panic. This was a new Yuffie he never seen before. "If you want me to hear to clearly you're going to have to come out from under the blanket."

"Liar," she grumbled. She flipped the blanket down from her face and folded the cloth at her hips. In order to avoid his eyes, she remained in her laying position as she spoke. "Do you think there was something more than a simple vacation on Reeve's mind when he gave us those tickets?"

Vincent smiled and sat up so he could look to where she was laying down. Her eyes were still closed and her body was stiff. She was barely even moving from her slow breaths.

"I have no idea how to understand the man. What do you think he was thinking?" Vincent tossed her own question back. His words were only partially a lie. He didn't have a clear idea to the man's plans, but he was beginning to piece the puzzle together.

"Well, he went on and on about us starting our lives and figuring things out," she said and her eyes tightened as if afraid. "He wanted us to do this together and I wonder what that's about."

Vincent shook his head and ran his hand through his hair in a gesture of giving up. If she was able to connect the same dots he had been building since they left Reeve's office it had to be true.

"Do you think he wants us to start something together?" Yuffie asked. "Wait, wait! That came out wrong!" She sat up straight to see he was seated at the edge of his bed.

"You mean a project, right?" Vincent asked innocently. She was opening this new teasing side of him he had no idea where it came from. "What could we possibly do here?"

Yuffie glared at his stupidity but played along with his obvious oblivion. "I don't know. Maybe there is a problem going on here and he liked the way we've worked together before. He could want us to clean up things here."

"What is there to clean up?" he asked and left his bed to join Yuffie on her own.

"I have no idea!" Yuffie let out a quick breath and rolled her eyes. "He told us as little as possible. He's getting as hard to get info out of as you are!"

Vincent smiled and let his body lay down comfortably next to her. "Then let's talk it out to figure what he wants from us."

Yuffie wiggled a bit away from Vincent and thought to herself about Reeve's vacation orders. "He mentioned a lot about us being together but made a point for us to know we didn't _need_ to spend our time together. But he got us a shared room and sent us with one another."

"True," Vincent said and closed his eyes to hearing her say his very thoughts out loud. "And he's not the only one."

"What do you mean?" Yuffie asked turning onto her side to look directly at him.

"Hints have been dropped by many for a while now. I think the biggest hint comes for you, actually. I missed it because I am a terrible people reader," Vincent said. He turned onto his own side to look at her and her eyes widened in shock. He pointed to her very eyes and smiled. "Those little gestures are what I've always ignored. Those moments of shock, I pass off as teasing. Those smiles of caring, I pass off as pity. Those goose bumps appearing from my touch, I pass off as fear. Yuffie, am I thinking correctly?"

Yuffie pushed her lips together and shook her head. "I don't know what you're thinking. But I know I am hoping it was pointless to have a room with two beds."

"I am thinking we are on the same page," Vincent said and leaned forward to kiss her forehead. She rolled onto her other side and scooted closer to him so he could place he arm around her hip. Spending more time in the hotel room was seeming more and more reasonable.

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_**Author's Note: Many thanks to CupofTeaforAliceandHatter for catching the problems with my stories first problem when I uploaded it! Thanks times a million!**_

_**I am terribly sorry Vincent was suddenly way out of character in the end there. I was reading it as he was finally moving on and taking on a new life with Yuffie. Not sure if you saw it in the same way, but I imagine he would change in the slightest way when he finally takes Yuffie as his love. Who wouldn't? Please, R&amp;R!**_


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